


Birthday Present

by SpaceRat



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Rin's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceRat/pseuds/SpaceRat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru wanders around Tottori trying to find a birthday present for his sentimental loser of a boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Present

**Author's Note:**

> This was my contribution to the 30 Days of Rin countdown on tumblr. 
> 
> Happy (belated) birthday, Rin-chan-san.

Haru wandered through Tottori's shopping district hoping something, anything, would catch his interest. After spending the entire morning scouring Iwatobi in search of a birthday present for Rin and finding absolutely nothing he decided to take the 30-minute train ride to the neighbouring city and try his luck there. Unfortunately, he had yet to find anything remotely good and there was a distinct pain throbbing at the side of his head from it all.

Haru was usually pretty efficient at this; he had already run into things that would make perfectly fine presents for Makoto (a beginner's cookbook), Rei (a shirt with a butterfly design on the side) and Nagisa (a new video game that had come out just a week or so ago). Except he wasn't shopping for Makoto or Rei or Nagisa. He was shopping for Rin and Rin had a tendency to make everything a thousand times more annoying than it needed to be, intentionally or not.

From the day he transferred to the Iwatobi Swim Club, Rin had kicked up the leaves in Haru's life with no consideration and certainly no invite to do so. The guy could be so irritating sometimes, always grinning and going on about the relay and promising Haru, Makoto and Nagisa to show them "a sight they've never seen before". It confused the hell out of Haru when his heart would start thumping every time Rin was around. It was so bothersome. Why did it do that? Was it because he disliked Rin? That must have been it. Right?

Wrong.

Even Haru knew that a heart isn't supposed to hurt when the person you thought you didn't like leaves for Australia or when they cry and say they quit swimming and disappear from your life for three years. A heart hurts when you lose someone you love.

Haru loved Rin. He really did. He just wished the guy wasn't so damn hard to shop for...

Sure, he had run into things that would make okay presents for him; a new pair of goggles, another hat to add to Rin's already giant collection, that damn book on health and exercise he wouldn't shut up about and was clearly trying to get Haru to buy for him. The problem was that all of these options seemed kind of... obvious. If he knew anything about Rin it was that the guy was a total romantic, which meant that if Haru wanted to get him a _good_ present it had better be one that had some meaning behind it. 

Working his way through the afternoon crowd Haru wondered what exactly Rin would think was meaningful. Maybe a photo? That could be pretty sentimental and Rin did always have the picture of his dad from the old swim club with him. Haru could have it framed. Thought that would make carrying it around a bit harder. Then maybe the one of them after the relay from regionals last summer? No, they already made copies of it for everyone, so the present would just be the frame and that was kind of stupid. The entire photo idea was kind of stupid really, Haru thought as the pain at the side of his head grew from annoying to incredibly irritating.

Though, the regional tournament might not be a bad place to start drawing inspiration from. After all, it was the day Rin became their friend again. It was also the first of twenty three days he and Haru took to fumble around the mountain of feelings between them before Rin appeared at Haru's door and awkwardly mumbled out, "Hey, Haru, can I... and you don't have to say yes, you can say no if you don't want to, that's - that's cool, but um... canIkissyou?" The memory made Haru smile; he was glad Rin was back.

Really, if he took it back far enough, he'd have to say it was the elementary school relay that made Rin so central in his life, in all their friends' lives. The thing was Rin's idea and he had asked, nagged and plotted (so bothersome...) until Makoto, Nagisa, him and Haru were lined up behind the starting block warming up for their first practice as a team. And of course there was the actual medley relay, when they all saw the sight he promised to show them and changed their outlook on swimming.

Ugh, when had he become so sentimental? Rin was definitely rubbing off on him.

Haru looked at the trinket shops and flower merchants lining the street he was on. There was only one thing that would do as a present for Rin, and this was not the place to find it. He turned around and headed back towards the train station empty-handed and with a plan.

\---

The morning of Rin's birthday found them sitting on the floor of Haru's living room with cups of hot tea in their hands and a long rectangular present between them.

"Happy birthday." Haru hid his smile behind his tea cup.

He could see the excitement and curiosity in Rin's face as his hands slowly worked to untie the ribbon and peel back the wrapping paper. Haru always took Rin for the type to shred into a present, so he couldn't help but smile a bit more at how endearing it was that he was being so careful with this.  When the cardboard box inside all the wrapping was finally visible Rin slowly lifted the lid to peek inside.

"Haru... but... what?" He stared at Haru, mouth slightly open in surprise. Sunlight reflected from the trophy he pulled out of the box.

"It's the trophy we won in 6th grade." Haru explained.

"Yes, I realized that, idiot. I mean why?"

"Because without you the relay wouldn't have happened. And without the relay, none of us would be where we are today."

"But... we won this as a team. The four of us." Rin's voice was soft, as if he still didn't understand why he was being given such a gift.

"Yeah and Makoto and Nagisa agreed that you should have it. Three against one, you have to keep it." It was true; when Haru talked to the two of them they were both supportive of his idea.

(As Nagisa put it, "A birthday is a day to celebrate a person, and the presents they get should be like that too. We did the relay because of Rin-chan, so he should get the trophy.")

Rin's shoulders sank and his eyes were hidden behind his hair. "Thank you, Haru." He sniffled.

"Are you crying?" Haru asked, pushing the box and wrapping paper between them aside and scooting forward to sit closer to Rin.

"No." Another sniffled escaped from Rin as he turned his face away from Haru.

"Yes you are."

"Shut it, would ya? You're the one who's going soft, giving me something like this for my birthday."

"I blame you, you're the sappy one."

"That's n-" Haru shut Rin up in the middle of his protests with a kiss. Yeah, maybe he was going soft, but as long as it was because of Rin, he didn't think he'd mind. (Ugh, the guy was _definitely_ rubbing off on him...)


End file.
